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The Internet has created plenty of opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as it has revolutionised the dynamics of international commerce and is an excellent means to boost brand visibility.

The Internet acts as a gateway for SMEs, but it is also an ideal platform for infringers to sell counterfeit products and commit fraud. One of the most significant challenges related to Internet fraud is cybersquatting.

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The Internet has created plenty of opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as it has revolutionised the dynamics of international commerce and is an excellent means to boost brand visibility.

The Internet acts as a gateway for SMEs, but it is also an ideal platform for infringers to sell counterfeit products and commit fraud. One of the most significant challenges related to Internet fraud is cybersquatting.

Copyright is an intellectual property right (IPR) that grants authors, artists and other creators protection for their literary, artistic and scientific creations, generally referred to as “works”.

No matter if you are a copyright owner or a copyright user, understanding the copyright basics is crucial to any business. In essence, it must be borne in mind that safeguarding your own copyright and securing the permission of third parties before using copyrighted materials is not only legally required but also a good business practice.

The present fact sheet illustrates the importance of copyright protection for businesses and provides insight into the copyright regime, knowledge of which could prove beneficial in particular to SMEs.

A trade secret is confidential information in the context of business, commerce or trade. Trade secrets often constitute valuable resources to many companies whose assets may, for instance, not be patentable but have a great commercial value and therefore need to be protected.

This fact sheet illustrates the importance of trade secrets for businesses and provides insight into trade secret protection, which could prove beneficial in particular to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs).

Trade fairs and exhibitions are very important marketing tools for companies, in particular for SMEs. They help to attract new customers, test products, access new markets, raise the image, profile and popularity of a company or product, and enhance competitiveness.

While, trade fairs can facilitate intellectual property (IP) infringements, they can also help IP owners detect such infringements. Therefore, exhibitors must be aware of all the IP issues that can arise in the context of trade fairs and take appropriate measures before, during and after the show.

Tackling intellectual property (IP) issues in trade fairs and exhibitions is not only a crucial element for exhibitors. It is also highly important for organisers as the risk of IP infringement in a trade fair/exhibition may affect the credibility of the trade show and might discourage companies from participating in these events. Being aware of this, many organisers are now taking initiatives to ease the fight against IP infringements.

This fact sheet offers some possible measures that can be taken by the trade fair organisers to prevent the infringement of IP rights during trade fairs, and introduces real examples from a number of trade fair organisers and associations.

European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI Funds) are one of the main investment policy tools of the European Union to support economic and social growth within Europe. Research and innovation projects funded under ESI Funds entail the creation and use of intellectual assets, which attribute an indispensable role to intellectual property (IP) in the whole project management process.

Our latest fact sheet on IP Management in European Structural and Investment Funds underlines the importance of IP in ESI Funds and aims to provide guidance on the IP issues that may arise during the project life cycle.

Some product names have more things to say about themselves than others. They can reflect and evoke qualities and reputation strictly linked to their geographical origin.

Such a special “link” between the quality or reputation of a product and its geographical origin might have a considerable market value and its protection constitutes an important step for producers to gain the related competitive advantage.

Read our brand new fact sheet introducing geographical indications as an invaluable tool to help companies differentiate themselves in the market.

Without any doubt, for today’s businesses one of the very first steps for being successful in the global business arena is to be aware of their intellectual assets. Nevertheless, because of the non-physical nature of these assets, it is sometimes not very easy for companies to identify and utilise them as a tool to reach their objectives.

This time, our brand new fact sheet discusses an invaluable tool to help companies grow in this competitive business world by disclosing their hidden potential: The IP Audit.

Risks of investing in non-original design or filing an application for identical or confusingly similar design can be avoided or at least limited by performing design searching.

The European IPR Helpdesk's new fact sheet focusses on the main characteristics of design searching as a best practice allowing companies and designers to keep up with the latest market trends and look at designs that may impede the possibility to acquire protection or infringe the rights on their design creations.

Successful industries survive on continuous innovation, bringing to the market new products and services by developing or acquiring cutting-edge technology. The process of acquiring the rights related to a third party’s technology through a licence agreement is indicated as technology licensing-in.

This fact sheet analyses the most relevant issues related to technology licensing-in, giving readers an overview of the preliminary steps and practical suggestions to follow in order to get prepared for future negotiations.